Fire-kindler



I (No Model.) 8 8 D. STREETER.

FIRE KINDLER.

No. 380,607. Patented Apr. 3,1888.

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UNITED STATES lPATENT ()FFIQE.

GEORGE D. STBEE'FER, OF WAOO, TEXAS.

FIRE-KINDLER.

QPECIPICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 380,607, dated April 3, 1888. Application filed Srptember 2. 1887. Serial No. 248,634. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE D. STREETER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Waco, in the county of McLennan and State of Texas, have invented new and useful Improvements in Apparatus for Making Fire-Kindlers, of which the following is a specification.

This invention has for its object to improve the apparatus for making fire-kindlers from ashes for which I filed an application for Letters Patent J one 27, 1887, Serial No. 242,644.

' I have found that ashes possess great capillary attraction and take up more hydrocarbon fluid than is requisite when the ashes are dry and not tightly packed, so that the ashes become soft and mushy.

An object of my present invention is to provide novel means for determining when the oil is exhausted from the oil-vessel and to provide novel means for keeping the ashes from direct contact with the oil-supply openings.

The invention consists in the features of construction and combination of devices hereinafter described and claimed, reference being madetotheaccompanyingdrawingsflnwhich- Figure 1 is a top plan View with the lid removed. Fig. 2 is a central vertical sectional view. Fig. 3 is a broken detail view showing the flanges to support the false bottom and confine the absorbent material; Fig. 4, a perspective view of the compressor.

In order to enable those skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I will now describe the same in detail, referring to the drawings, wherein-.

The numeral 1 indicates a portable vessel containing a central vertical partition, 2, and a chamber, 3, for containing a combustible fluid, such as petroleum-oilor other liquid hydrocarbon. The inner wall, 4, of the oilchamber is separated from the partition by an intervening oil space, 5, and the said wall 4 at a point directly above the top edge of the partition is furnished withan ordinary can-screw,

6, or other suitable means to supply the chamher 3 with the combustible fluid. The space 7 in the vessel at the side of the partition constitutes an ash-chamber, in communication at its bottom with the oil by openings 8 under or in the partition and the inner wall of the oilchamber. The bottom wall, 9, of the vessel is false bottom, while the flange 11 forms a chan-.

nel around the bottom of the ash-chamber to receive a cotton or other absorbent material directly under the edge perforations, 14, the object being to prevent the ashes from passing through and choking up the chamber or open space below the false bottom. The absorbent material takes up the oil and conveys it to the ashes by capillary attraction,and thus the mass of ashes becomes saturated through theperforations in the false bottom. Besides, should the ashes get in a soft or mushy condition in the ash-chamber before they settle and pack, the perforations in the false bottom permit the escape of excess of oil from the ashes into the chamber beneath the false bottom. The top of the oil-space between the partition and the inner wall of the oil-chamber is covered by a sliding detachable lid, 15, suitably confined in place to prevent ashes from entering the said oil-space at its top portion The oil-chamber is closed except at the bottom openings, which place the oil in communication with oil-space 5 and the chamber beneath the perforated false bottom, and consequently. but a small quantity of the combustible fluid can accumulate in the oil-space5 and the chamber containing the absorbent material, as indicated in Fig. 2. The oil in the chamber 3 and space 5 acts in a manner similar to the mucilage in the well-known mucilage-bottle, in that a vacuum is created in the top of the chamber 3 and the fluid is maintained at a height slightly above the orifice 8 in the oil-space 5. The fluid passing to the absorbent material is taken up thereby and delivered to the ashes by capillary attraction.

In order to practically use the saturated ashes for kindling fires, it is necessary to compress the ashes into solid form'as, for instance, into cakes or blocks-to be laid on a grate, for if the looseashes be taken up and laid on a grate they would fall through and be useless for the purposes designed. I have shown in Fig. 4 a simple device for compressing the saturated ashes into cakes or blocks. This device concontaining a correspondingly-shaped piston operated by a handle which is made to spring against the piston and hold it in position while the tube and its contents are being removed from the ash-chamber. This tube is repeatedly pressed into the saturated ashes, and when said tube is filled or partially filled the piston is forced down to still further compress the ashes in the tube, after which the tube, with its contents, is removed and carried to the stove, furnace, or grate, and the fire-kindler is deposited in the desired position by expelling it from the tube through the medium-of the piston. The kindler can now be lighted. I do not, however, here claim the compressor.

By removing th lid from the top of the oilspace 5 it is possible to determine when the oil-chamber is empty and if there is an insufficient oil-supply.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, is-

' 1. The combination of the vessel having a vertical partition, an oil-chamber and an ashchamber, with a perforated false bottom in the ash-chamber and absorbent material below the false bottom, substantially as described.

2. The combination of the vessel having a vertical partition, the oil-chamber having its inner wall separated from the partition by an oil-space, the ash-chamber, a perforated false bottom in the ash-chamber, and absorbent material beneath said false bottom, substantial] as described.

3; The combination of the vessel having a vertical partition, the oil-chamber having its inner wall separated from the partition by an oil-space, a movable lid covering the top portion of the oil-space, an ash-chamber, and a perforated false bottom in the latter, substantially as described.

4. The combination of a vessel having a vertical partition, an oil-chamber, the vertical flanges forming receptacles for absorbent material, and the perforated false bottom resting on said flanges with the perforations directly over the absorbent material, substantially as described.

In testimony whereofI aflix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

GEO. D. STREETER. Witnesses:

H. M. FRAME, W. J. TOWNLEY. 

